


Stupid Cupid

by lostnoise



Series: Valentine's Day 2021 [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: (only referenced) - Freeform, Alternate Season/Series 02, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Break Up, Cupid - Freeform, Cupid Marks, Harringrove Heart-On, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, Nancy’s and Steve’s break up tho, Red String of Fate, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, The Basketball Scene, Tina’s Halloween Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29417283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostnoise/pseuds/lostnoise
Summary: Steve hadn’t met his fated by the time he hit high school, though, and it made him nervous. Nervous enough to wonder if he’d be a rare case who never even met his match.That was all until Tina’s party.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler - Relationship
Series: Valentine's Day 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160465
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91
Collections: Harringrove Heart-On (2021)





	Stupid Cupid

**Author's Note:**

> For the Harringrove Heart-On prompt “Cupid.” Y’all know I can’t resist a good soulmate AU.

Everyone was born with a Cupid Mark, nestled right in the divot at the base of their throat. Once they met the love of their life, the Mark turned bright red. Their fated match by Cupid himself became reflected visibly in their Cupid Mark.

Sometimes those fated relationships didn’t work out. Sometimes, people were fated to be together for a reason unknown to anyone beyond the god of love and attraction. Take Steve’s parents, for example; their Cupid Marks had turned bright red when they met, but soon faded to the dark brownish red not long after Steve was born, going by pictures from when he was a baby. Sometimes, people lived and died without meeting their fated, rare as it was. Sometimes, people rejected their fated.

But most of the time?

Most of the time, Cupid Marks didn’t lie.

Steve hadn’t met his fated by the time he hit high school, though, and it made him nervous. Nervous enough to wonder if he’d be a rare case who never even met his match.

That was all until Tina’s party.

It was already a mess with how much Nancy was drinking, how she couldn’t look him in the eye, barely spoke to him all night. She tugged away from each touch, scoffed at each word, until Steve was staring down the new Keg King, Billy Hargrove. His throat burned beneath his turtleneck as he slipped his sunglasses off, staring down the mullet-headed new kid. He could have the goddamn crown. But his throat burned in the same way the Cupid Mark on Billy’s throat turned red, slowly creeping up on him until it was there, starkly standing out on Billy's skin. Until it was sharply aching at his own throat.

Steve gasped and fled to follow after Nancy.

~

It was like having a magnet in his neck. His heart in his throat, practically, the way he could feel how close Billy was or wasn’t, after that night at Tina’s. Steve had heard of the red string of fate, another way of describing the strength and power of the Cupid Marks, and it truly felt like there was a string tying them together.

The experience after their first meeting was just short of excruciating. Slightly painful with the more distance spread between them, incredibly distracting otherwise to the point where Steve became easily irritated, Steve wondered why anyone liked having a Cupid Mark.

The only time things weren’t brutal were during basketball practice.

In fact, the first time Billy was guarding him, their eyes locked up in the kind of gaze that blocked out everything around them. Steve couldn’t even focus on the basket as Billy shoved up against him, pressed all along his back, sweaty skin sticking where their bodies met. Steve felt all the tension in his body releasing like a stretched rubber band going lax.

“Harrington, right?” Billy mumbled behind him, both of them panting, and now Steve was distracted for a completely different reason. “Heard you used to run this school. Is that true?”

Steve couldn’t force any words out of his mouth, so Billy’s kept running.

“ _King Steve_ , they called you, huh?”

Steve glanced over his shoulder, catching the smug grin spreading over Billy’s mouth.

“Then you turned bitch.”

“Maybe you should shut up and play the game,” Steve choked out, sounding just as out of breath and overwhelmed as he felt.

Of course, that was when Billy spun around him, pushed Steve to the ground, and stole the ball for a rather impressive layup under his leg.

Steve stood there staring up at the hoop, hands on his sighed as he panted for breath. _Fuck._ He didn’t want to admit that having his ass handed to him was any amount of hot, but… there he was, trying to keep himself from reacting, especially with how Billy’s eyes were right back on him. Especially with how Billy’s tongue flicked out of his mouth to trace over his lower lip.

“Steve?”

He turned, confused, and caught sight of Nancy.

_Bullshit. It’s all bullshit._

The red Mark at the base of his throat throbbed with the thought of having to talk to Nancy.

Nancy, who didn’t love him.

Nancy, who broke his heart.

Steve glanced back at the court, noticing the way Billy’s eyes narrowed in on Nancy and then darted back to Steve. The heavy gaze was almost questioning. Was Steve going to leave?

He bit at his lower lip and then sighed. Billy’s treatment today was indicative of one thing, and one thing only.

That Steve was confused over just about everything in his life.

So Steve shoved a hand through his hair, grabbed a towel, and shuffled over to where Nancy stood.

She went to leave through the double doors to outside, out to the alley in which they used to sneak kisses. There’d be no kisses today. So Steve grabbed her arm and shook his head.

“What’s up? I’m in practice,” he panted, wiping down his face.

“Where were you this morning? I missed first period. I thought you were going to pick me up.”

“Oh, I thought you made things pretty clear last night,” Steve shot back, biting his lower lip and pulling it into his mouth. He really didn’t want to have this conversation, and yet here he was.

“What are you talking about?”

Steve scoffed, arms crossing defensively over his chest. “Jesus. You really can’t handle your alcohol.”

Steve looked over his shoulder at Billy, felt his Cupid Mark throb when he caught those eyes on him. “You remember going to Tina’s party last night, right?”

“Yeah, I remember dancing, and spilling some punch…” Nancy looked at him pointedly until Steve couldn’t help but stare back at her. “You got mad at me because I was drunk… And then you took me home.”

He looked away. “No, see, that’s where your mind gets a little bit fuzzy.” Steve wrapped the towel around his neck and held tight on the edges, fingers digging into the terry cloth fabric. “That was your other boyfriend. That was… That was Jonathan.”

“I don’t understand,” Nancy said and shook her head. She started playing with the books in her hands the way she always did when she got nervous.

“Don’t worry, Nancy, you were just telling it like it is.”

Steve went to turn around but Nancy’s hand shot out and gripped his arm.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Well, apparently,” he started, backing her up towards the hallway. He popped the open door closed behind them.

Now, Nancy couldn’t take her eyes off of him. How long had he wanted that? How long had he been following her around, waiting for her eyes to come back to him?

_Bullshit._

He clenched his jaw.

“Apparently, we killed Barb.” He dropped his voice low, barely above a whisper, before speaking louder. “And I don’t care, because I’m bullshit.” He smiles mirthlessly as he gestured to himself. His voice started to pick up volume without him realizing it. “And our whole relationship?” He gestured between them carelessly. “It’s bullshit, and… I mean,” Steve continued to smile, laughing even, without a shred of joy to it. “Pretty much everything is bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.”

He ticked his fingers off with each word. Her eyes followed his fingers but she said nothing.

“Oh! And you don’t love me,” Steve added on, biting at his lower lip.

“I was drunk, Steve! I don’t remember any of that!” Nancy looks irritated. Ready to blow everything she did off because of alcohol.

“So that makes everything that you said, it’s what? Just bullshit, too?!” Steve shot back, practically yelling at her. He’d never yelled at Nancy, not like this.

He could tell by the relative silence from the gym that they had gained an audience. But Steve couldn’t bring himself to turn around and glare them all off.

“Yes!” 

“Then tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

Steve took a step back, shaking his head. “That you love me, Nancy.”

Nancy’s mouth flapped open a few times, but the only thing she could say, around a nervous smile, was, “Really?”

The door behind them snapped open and Billy stood there with sweat still clinging to his skin. Steve didn’t bother hiding the way his eyes dropped down to Billy’s throat. When he glanced up, he saw Billy staring at Steve’s, just the top curves of Steve’s Mark visible beneath his shirt.

“Harrington, the fuck are you doing out here?” Billy asked before turning his intense stare onto Nancy.

She rolled her eyes and huffed, turning her head away under his scrutiny, but glanced up at Steve, still unable to say anything to him as he stared back at her, eyes wide. He thought this would be easy, breaking things off with Nancy now that he’d found his soulmate. But it still hurt like a motherfucker.

“That just makes you bullshit, too,” Steve said, stomping off and hustling into the gym, having to slide by awkwardly close to Billy, since the blonde still hadn’t moved from where he was holding open the door. 

It sent a pleasant shiver down his spine just being so close to Billy.

Billy, who was busy staring down Nancy. He gave her a look so venomous that Steve jumped back a little when he reached out to touch Billy’s bare arm and that vicious gaze was turned onto him instead.

“C’mon, man. Let’s get back to the game.”

Billy licked his lips, tossed Nancy one final glare, and then spun his body away from the door so it shut behind him with a loud slam.

“Lover’s tiff, Harrington?” Billy asked while they trotted back over to the court.

“Not anymore,” Steve sighed.

He tried to focus on the game but Billy shoved him all over the court. After practice, one of the guys on the shirts team came up and admitted that Billy was wiping their asses down the court before Steve came back, and he drew Billy away from everyone else.

Steve wondered if Billy knew. If he could tell.

If he felt the magnetic pull, too.

It wasn’t until he walked out to his car that Billy’s loud Camaro roared up in front of him which effectively got Steve’s attention. As if the car alone weren’t enough to. The window rolled down and Billy popped out, smirking around a cigarette and peering up at Steve over the tops of his aviators.

“Hey Harrington,” he greets, exhaling a large cloud of smoke. Billy flicks his tongue out the same way he had earlier during practice. “Need a ride?”

Steve bit his lower lip and looked at his car idling in the parking lot.

“Yeah, sure,” Steve offered instead of the truth.

Or maybe it was the truth. Maybe he did need a ride, needed to get somewhere else - preferably alone with Billy.

Because there was a fire lighting in his belly, and he stared back down into Billy’s challenging gaze. Watched Billy’s eyes flick down to his neck, burning blue making his Mark throb with something more. Something that he hadn’t felt before.

“Hop in.”


End file.
